Libby Ward

Bohemian Rhapsody follows the tale of Freddie Mercury and his adventures into the band ‘Queen.’ The movie follows him as he struggles with personal identity, struggles with family life and the woes of band life. The film takes place between 1970 and 1985, the film’s genre was marked as a Drama. The film got a 61% on Rotten Tomatoes which means that the critics liked it, rather than rating it lower. Considering the percentages, the film did pretty well.The film stars some noticeable actors such as Rami Malek (Freddie Mercury), Ben Hardy (Roger Taylor) and Gwilym Lee (Brian May).Rami Malek, an actor who has been in many notable films such as: Night at the Museum, Mr. Robot, and Papillion has been getting many promising reviews over his acting performance. And I have to say, I agree with all of them. I had always been a fan of Malek and so seeing him be the lead role in this film, I knew he would be great. And it looks like the critics agree with me. The film has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards.However, I have to say that the music was the best part. Again, I had always been a huge fan of the band ‘Queen’ and so to be able to hear more of their music in this film and see how it was made was incredible and an amazing experience.Despite the great soundtrack, starting the film, quite frankly, I was not impressed. Although I had heard many promising reviews I did not find myself to be enjoying it. The music had intrigued me, I had always been a fan of Freddie Mercury. However the beginning was just not enough to catch my attention. The beginning was a slow-mo effect with cheering crowds and a close up of the man himself--Freddie Mercury. However this managed to just mildly confuse me and left me waiting until there was some real action.When I got halfway through the film, though, my attention was piqued. The musical background frankly was the only thing that had been able to keep my attention during the first half. But as the plot went further and I saw the struggles Mercury went through, I became more impressed.The film however was still not able to capture my full attention. Upon hearing the promising reviews, I had been quite excited to see it, and it's not that it was a bad movie; quite the contrary. It was a good one. It simply didn’t cater to my tastes. For starters, there wasn’t enough going on for me, and I am generally drawn to the more action-packed films or the heart wrenching ones. While this movie did have some heart wrenching moments, there wasn’t enough to keep me emotionally invested.The acting was well done. I never felt as if there was a moment where I believed that it was simply just actors on a screen. The cast was also well executed I thought, the actors were well chosen and filled their parts well.I did enjoy how the film went through some of the darker themes that Freddie went through in his life, such as his self-identity and problems with his family. The ending, in my opinion was the best part about the film, and was the one that I thoroughly enjoyed the most. The emotional appeal and the feeling of accomplishment is one that will always stick with me. Overall, it was a good movie. And I enjoyed quite a few parts (especially the soundtrack) The quality was also well done, the cinematography, the hair and makeup and the overall camera shots were exquisite. Overall, I would say that someone who like to know musical history or is a huge fan of the band ‘Queen’ or really any other rock fan would enjoy the movie. And even though it's not my favorite movie of all time, I would give it 3 popcorn buckets out of 5

“The Jumanji reboot “Welcome to the Jungle” is a happy surprise--a movie that turns out to be good (almost clean) fun, and is much more interested in character and comedy rather than special effects” (Philadelphia Daily News - Gary Thompson).

Jumanji is a remake of the classic older film of the original Jumanji released in 1995. Whilst the original film focused on two kids who stumbled upon a magical old board game and meeting an old man (Robin Williams) who had been trapped in the game, not to even mention all of the different creatures and events from the board game that start coming into the real world. The newer Jumanji tells a different tale.

​While the two are similar in events that happen and ‘lore,’ they both have their own unique humor and drama that make them enjoyable. Jumanji “Welcome to the Jungle” Is said to be a continuation of the older Jumanji, created 21 years later.

The story of the new Jumanji follows four teenagers from different backgrounds who all get detention one way or another. After school, their principle takes them to an area that they must clean up.Upon cleaning, they discover a video game where they choose characters from the game Jumanji. From there, they face countless dangers and get themselves into many humorous situations.The scenery of Jumanji was stunning, and for good reason. When they are taken into the video game, they are transported into a jungle. Upon further research, it turns out that it was filmed on location in Hawaii!A number of exterior scenes were filmed on the island of Oahu, and a large number of scenes were filmed at Kualoa Ranch.Overall, the film has good humor (If a bit raunchy at times), good actors, and beautiful scenes.Reviews for the movies were overall very good with the rotten tomato count being 76%,Many famous actors were included in the movie such as Kevin Hart, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Jack Black and even Karen Gillan.And yes—Dwayne Johnson managed to keep his shirt on most of the time.Otherwise, the film keeps true to its name, and manages to uphold its legacy from the first movie.However, there seems to be one complaint about the movie universally. In the first Jumanji, Robin Williams, otherwise known as Alan Parrish, was trapped in the board. Of course, being trapped in there led to him aging.However, in the new Jumanji movie, Nick Jonas, otherwise known as Alex, is stuck in the video game which takes him back to the original time period he lived in when he was sucked into the video game, which was in 1996, a year after Alan Parrish was sucked into the board game before him in the events of the original film. Many have complained that this is the one thing that the new Jumanji movie didn’t get right; however, what most realize is that it is a video game rather than a board game, so different rules apply.Otherwise, the film was very highly praised. After reviewing the movie, I would have to give it a huge thumbs up!​The actors, the scenery and jokes made the film worthwhile watching overall, and it was a very enjoyable experience.

Many films from the “good o’l days” are considered classics. From Disney classics such as The Little Mermaid to Mary Poppins, there is a wide range for anyone looking for a good movie to watch. These classic films include none other than Annie!

Annie has gone through many changes over the years, going through multiple remakes of the film, including a white version of Annie and a even an African-American version. The story wasn’t originally a film, however.

The film can go back almost 300 years! At first, the orphaned little red-haired girl started out as a poem written by James Whitcomp Riley. The poem was titled, “Little Orphant Annie.”

The poem soon grew and eventually was adapted to be a newspaper comic strip also named “Little Orphan Annie.” It appeared in newspapers from 1924 to its closing date in 2010. While the cartoon ran in newspapers, it also became a 15-minute radio program in 1930 that ran for 12 years and had gained 6 million followers.

Then finally, two different movie versions of Annie came out. Sadly, both had a very bad reputation and were not well-received from the critics.

After the two films had been badly criticized, a Broadway musical was born. The Broadway musical had been a big hit and so a new film version of Annie was released in 1982. The stars of the film include: Albert Finney ( Mr.Warbucks), Carol Burnett ( Ms. Hannigan), Ann Reinking ( Grace Ferrell), Tim Curry ( Rooster Hannigan), and last but not least Aileen Quinn ( Annie).

The film (and the Broadway musical) follow the story of, you guessed it, Annie. Annie is an orphan who lives with her friends. The “Matron” is very cruel to these girls, however, and so this sparks a stage of rebelliousness in them.

While in the orphanage, the girls have to clean and work until one day a woman comes in stating that one of the richest men in the town is looking for an orphan to stay for a week. Eventually, she chooses Annie and there they go. The rest of the production follows Annie and her friend’s adventures, setting themes about family and love.

Fit with plenty of musical numbers, which a Broadway musical should have, the Broadway Musical had very heartwarming moments and tugs at the heartstrings, along with the actual film of Annie.

The choreograph for the film fits with the themes very well and still gives that feeling of happiness. It also gives the message of wherever you are, don’t give up hope! Because as the song goes, “The sun will come out tomorrow.”

Besides the positive songs, (especially the very popular ones such as “Tomorrow” and “It's the Hard Knock Life,”) this movie gives a very positive message about orphans. Mr. Warbucks, the man who adopts Annie, changes his heart from money, greed, and work, to love and compassion for Annie and simply adores her. The whole staff in the house seems to adore her, too. It would be hard not to with that red curly hair and her freckled smile.

The characters are simply to adore, too, from the orphans in the orphanage to Annie, and Mr. Warbucks. Even if you don’t like a certain character, they all seem to take on a change of heart, including Agatha Hannigan, who may dislike Annie, but eventually doesn’t let her brother touch a single hair on her head. Er well Ms.Hannigan tries. Talk about sibling love.

Well? What are you waiting for? Go out and watch Annie! I would give it a 4/5 stars for the wonderful messages, heartwarming songs, and wonderful characters who prove that you can always have a change of Heart. The film is a very heartwarming tale about one special little orphan by the name of Annie.

Elizabeth Ward

Hi, hello, hola; or whatever greeting you like to use! My legal name is Elizabeth, however everyone knows me as Libby. However, you can call me whatever you want. Generally I like to think that I’m a very creative person. I draw, sometimes I sing, and my favorite hobby is writing. Currently I have an anthology online of short stories I’ve written and posted online to a website called Quotev. The response I got was astounding, so I’m going to continue posting on there. I chose Publications for this reason, and I can confidently say that I’ve learned a lot.​